Westpac will have bought this pool of houses to release the REIT. They will make their money by charging about 1% to 3% of the value (not the income) each year as a management fee to administer the trust.

The buyers of this trust may include super funds and clients of financial planners trying to earn a commision by finally having a product that is exposed to the residential property market.

I beleive it will be a poor investment, unless the depreciation and other running costs are able to flow through to the investor. This might make it have some sort of low return (about 5%) but may have an even lower taxable income. (say 2-3%) Might actually be a good investment as a buffer against high volatility, higher return stocks in a portfolio.